Made-For-TV HORROR Movies of the 70s & 80s

[italic]Curse of the Black Widow,[/italic] starring Miss Patty Duke

And all of those wonderfully bad English Horror TV-Movies, too!!!!!!!!!

Wes Craven's [italic]Summer of Fear[/italic] (a.k.a. [italic]Stranger in Our House[/italic])

Bow down to this greatness!

This thread would be incomplete without mention of the greatest of the great made for TV horror films, Trilogy of Terror. I remember watching this when I was in fourth grade and it scared the crap out of me! That little doll just would not stop!

[italic]Satan's School for Girls[/italic]

Don't Go to Sleep with Rhoda and McCloud...

R8, I was also 4th Grade when that aired and was terrified for weeks!

Another classic vehicle for Miss Karen Black

1972's 'Gargoyles' was aired several times in the 1970s, and is a big favorite of mine.

[italic]The Screaming Woman[/italic]

Dark Night of the Scarecrow, which I actually just finished watching. It is perfect for the Halloween season.

[italic]Scream, Pretty Peggy,[/italic] with Special Guest Star Miss Bette Davis

No one's mentionned this?

No one's mentioned this yet?

[italic]The Strange and Deadly Occurrence[/italic] (1974)

Dueling teenage witches!

The doll scene from Trilogy of Terror was very similar to a great episode of The Twilight Zone, The Invaders starring Agnes Moorehead. Equally as scary!

"If I were not a lady ... then I should twist your arm, Mrs. Borden, right out of its socket!"

I saw this when it originally aired in 1975, and it is one of the best. Forget Samantha Stephens after this one!

Don't pledge Pi Epsilon Delta, y'all

[italic]Crowhaven Farm[/italic]

This doesn't qualify as horror, but it was made for TV and it was quite memorable -- The Night that Panicked America. Lots of TV and movie stars in this one, can't find the whole thing on Youtube.

[italic]The Stranger Within[/italic] (1974, in three parts on DailyMotion): Barbara Eden gets preggers by an alien

R13, Kino Lorber just announced a Bluray release of Scream, Pretty Peggy coming next year.

They also just released 1974’s Killdozer! Kino Lorber is doing a good job of bringing a lot of these old TV movies to disc - they have both Trilogy of Terrors, The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler, The House That Would Not Die.

The House on Greenapple Road

The zombie episode of 'The Night Stalker' terrified me!

Does the ending of Don't Be Afraid of The Dark imply that Kim Darby has become one of them?

I loved Midnight Offerings, it was one of the few attempts to make Melissa Sue Anderson seem like she had range as an actress that kinda worked I would have liked it if there had been an actual teen witch battle at the end though.

OF course the fantastic classic kolchak movies "the night stalker" and "the night strangler"... both hold up today and still scary as hell.... total proof that a horror movie doesn't have to be gory or sadistic or have special effects!.... it's the story, the acting, the music, the lighting and so on that makes these movies great...

gotta add as well "when a stranger calls" with carol kane.. at least the first 30 minutes of the movie..

[italic]The Devil's Daughter[/italic]

When A Stranger Calls was a theatrical feature although there was a made-for-cable sequel in the 90s.

Unless you were thinking about When Michael Calls...

I haven't seen The Initiation of Sarah in years but doesn't she do something to Morgan Fairchild at the end that goes a bit beyond mere telekinesis?

BTW, many of these movies are available to stream/watch on EPIX.

Gay comedian Sam Pancake does an entire podcast dedicated to old made for tv movies.

what was that one TV movie starring a young Sally Field who is hiding from the serial killer who is killing off people (relatives for a inheritance?) one by one?... i remember her hiding in a big ole wood log and seeing the killer a woman with a pitchfork hunting her and than standing literally over this log and not seeing sally's character hiding in it! scary stuff... later sally's character fakes her death and then surprised the killer who seeing her alive goes completely insane, i think the serial killer was her much older sister? not sure...

This was before my time.

But one I CAN endorse is KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK!!!!!!

Home For The Holidays, r35

[quote]I haven't seen The Initiation of Sarah in years but doesn't she do something to Morgan Fairchild at the end that goes a bit beyond mere telekinesis?

You can fast-forward to that part at R20

R37... that's it... thanks!...

Brittany Murphy was beautiful and could kinda act it's too bad she turned out to be a right-wing psycho.

R34, you just made my year! Subscribed!

Direct link

I have one in my memory that I can't describe very well, but it was about a young woman who lives in an apartment building who starts seeing strange things outside her window, she tells her best (female) friend and her boyfriend about it, they both tell her that they don't see what she's seeing, and she might be going crazy. At the end of the movie, the young woman is tied up in her bathtub having gone completely loony, and it turns out that the boyfriend and her best friend were conspiring to gaslight her and get her committed. I can't remember who starred in it ... but I remember the final scene in the bathroom vividly, because it involved some kind of weird eye inserts or contact lenses...

Bitch r41, don't you mean MORGAN BRITTANY??

I was no Republican psycho.

More suspense thriller than horror but Dying Room Only with Cloris Leachman, Dabney Coleman and Ned Beatty is a good one. The Kurt Russell movie Breakdown stole a lot of plot points from this. Written by Richard Matheson who did a lot of Twilight Zone episodes and Trilogy of Terror

While Brittany Murphy was NOT a Republican, she was a GAP model in 2001!

These movies have been my favorite “type” of movie to watch for a few years now, and as someone noted upthread, a lot of them are being released in immaculate blu ray editions. Extremely excited for Scream, Pretty Peggy. The Screaming Woman and The Victim (another Elizabeth Montgomery vehicle) are also reportedly coming from Kino Lorber. One of the most gorgeous releases has been Bad Ronald (starring the highly underrated Scott Jacoby). It’s unreal how pristine the camera negative looks. Warner Brothers did that one.

I would also recommend A Howling In The Woods (murder mystery starring Barbara Eden), The People (Kim Darby, 1972), Night Slaves (1970), and so many others that I can’t even remember right now. All on YouTube.

Not all of them qualify as “camp” necessarily—that’s a misunderstanding of the term. Some of them might seem dated, or slightly cheesy, but they’re certainly no worse than B-grade fare being churned out by independent producers today—and they’re far more entertaining and look way better as they were shot on film.

Oh and R27, thanks for the spoiler alert...

There were two werewolf TV-movies around 1973 or so.

Anybody remember what they were titled? Are they available on DVD?

Bad Ronald

This features a mom vs. teen witch battle!

Moon of the Wolf is probably one of them, R49. And if it’s on DVD, it’s taken from an old VHS, not the negative or a print. The upload on YouTube looks like ass.

The Dark Secret of Harvest Home

Gather ye the corn!!!!!

Ah yes, The Spell is a lot of fun. It’s streaming on other sites, too, I believe—I think I saw it on Amazon? That YouTube video is too blurry to watch when there’s a Blu ray of it available.

R52, yes, 'Moon Of The Wolf' is one of the ones I was thinking of.

Starring DL Faves, David Jansson and Barbara Rush!

R23 I remember not only being terrfified by this movie, but seeing Barbara Eden (who was always so bubbly and happy as Jeannie) being such a crazy, mean woman was traumatizing to me.

Satan's Triangle

[italic]It Happened at Lakewood Manor[/italic] (1977)

Some terrifying visuals... especially the end where they're tied together and breathing through tubes as the ants crawl all over them.

Motel Hell. I thought it was creepy and disturbing.

That wasn't a TV-movie.

R53 must have missed R4! FAT WHORE!!

R57, Satan's Triangle was so good! I can't believe Kim Novak was making TV movies, she was only 42 and still quite beautiful.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death

speaking of the "dark secret of harvest home" ... can you blame the wife BETH for wanting to screw that gorgeous handsome studly blond Justin (played by actor john calvin) instead of her homely plain pain in the butt husband Nick (played by david ackroyd)... i remember watching the "making of the corn" scene when i was a youngster and furiously "spanking the monkey" because i found the whole scene so dirty and wicked, although in reality for a 1978 tv movie they didn't show anything really!...a decade later and on cable it would have been soft porn this scene! did feel sorry for plain and soon to be blinded Nick and hated that horny brainwashed whore who acted like nothing was wrong! not only was she brainwashed (and a young roseanne arquette) but she had to have been deep down mentally ill and evil all along.... amazing how justin was able to get her pregnant just 1 time too! laugh! what a stud!....

Night Terror. Valerie Harper terrorized by a man on the highway after witnessing a murder. Scared the shit out of me as a kid!

I thought Let's Scare Jessica to Death was a theatrical film

The House That Would Not Die, starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck

How Awful About Allan, with Anthony Perkins, Julie Harris and Joan Hackett. More thriller than horror, but it scared me when I was a kid.

Don’t forget (or maybe do) the cheesy TV sequels to Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives.

Revenge of the Stepford Wives is a camp hoot with Sharon Gless, Julie Kavner, Audra Lindley and Don Johnson. The Stepford Children with Barbara Eden actually manages some creepy moments along with the camp. In the 90s there was even The Stepford Husbands.

Look What’s Happened To Rosemary’s Baby is pretty dull but an interesting time capsule of 70s weirdness. Starring Patty Duke as Rosemary, Tina Louise, and Ruth Gordon reprising her role from the original. No relation to the later sequel Ira Levin wrote.

Bay Coven (1987) starring Tim Matheson and Pamela Sue Martin

Dead of Night (1977)

The Victim, with DL faves Elizabeth Montgomery and George Maharis

MOON OF THE WOLF is available on EPIX!

“Look, Demon Dog,, or whatever you call yourself, I am the Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings of BetaZed. And unless you want to create an interstellar incident, you had better beam back to your ship!"

Sorry, Right after I hit post I realized I didn't mean Brittany Murphy.

Are You in the House Alone? with Kathleen Beller, Robin Mattson and Dennis Quaid.

r49/r52. The other werewolf movie was Scream of the Wolf. All I remember is this line from the promo: "His face is gone!"

The Cat Creature, starring DL fave Meredith Baxter:

Did all of these movies star a "DL fave?"

Thanks, R77, for SCREAM OF THE WOLF!

Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977)

The part where a tarantula bittenwoman rolls down a hill and strikes her head on a tree scared the crap out of me when I was a kid!

Starring Claude Akins, Tom Atkins, and Howard Hessman from WKRP and Head of the class

R44 Would that be Diabolique?

All these posts and no mention of "Burnt Offerings"? For shame, bitches.

Does Meredith Baxter Burney count as a DL Fave?

Salem's Lot.

I remember seeing this when I was young -- it was full of recognizable TV stars -- and I thought the ending was scary and disturbing.

Interesting article, check it out.

I loved the creepy, ominous ending of "Crowhaven Farm." I love it when horror movies have scary endings.

r82, even though it looks made for TV Burnt Offerings was a theatrical feature

Neither ‘Let’s Scare Jessica To Death’ nor ‘Burnt Offerings’ are TV movies.

When Michael Calls

When Michael Calls is one of my favorites, R90. Wish that one would get a Blu ray. There is at least one YouTube upload that looks good, though.

[italic] The Eyes of Charles Sand [/italic] 1972

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark got a Blu-ray reissue last year by Warner Archives, and it looks absolutely fantastic.

Trilogy of Terror was issued by Kino Lorber a few years ago, as was The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler. I hope more TV movies are issued on Blu.

I loved trilogy of terror . That little doll and Karen black were great together ..... one of the most terrifying ...

Jeez, that was tedious, R92. Is the movie itself any good?

Interesting that they used Mancini’s score for Wait Until Dark for that clip (one of the all-time greatest spooky themes). Both Warner Bros. properties, I guess.

In case someone is thinking of posting it, "You'll Like My Mother" is not a made-for-TV movie, either.

I loved "trilogy of terror" but UNLIKE most everyone else, not for the voodoo doll come to life episode, but i loved the story of the prim and proper college teacher drugged by the hunky horny student of hers blackmailed into being his "sex slave" until she turns the tables on him and drugs him and kills him... TURNS OUT? she knew what he was doing and she had a long habit of playing "victim" until she turns the tables and kills the hunky horny stud.... she LOVED the sex from them too! in the end, she is about to seduce a very young GREGORY HARRISON into her kinky web, she certainly had great taste in her "victims"... when i was little this story turned me on and still does....

R97, that’s my favorite story in Trilogy, too. Far too much is made of the doll one, but it’s easy to see why—people love cartoonish, comic book-style stuff in their movies (horror or otherwise). The blu ray cover art that Kino Lorber did for it drives that home.

Though I would add: SPOILER ALERT, R97!!!

R99.. your right, should have posted a spoiler alert, but i figured by now everyone born in the last century had seen it already! lol...

The Midnight Hour (1985)

Hollywood Ghost Stories (1986)

This was a favorite of mine. I think it aired on Cinemax though.

The original Night Gallery had three segments ... one I don't remember at all, one had Joan Crawford as a blind woman who regains her sight during a blackout, but the best segment was called "The Cemetery" and it starred Roddy MacDowall and Ossie Davis. After his rich old uncle is (essentially) murdered, the nephew (Roddy MacDowall's character) inherits the estate, and is haunted by a painting that appears to show old uncle emerging from his grave to seek revenge.

This episode was super scary! And also super gay, especially the way MacDowall repeatedly says the name of Davis's character, "Portifoy."

This is one of those kinds of threads that gets a lot of responses on the weekends.

The horror!

THE episode that scared me so so much when i was little of "night gallery" was that one episode where the little boy could predict the future and in the end he predicted the sun exploding and the end of the world! i cried and i cried for a long time thinking of that when i was little! even now, it's disturbing to me!...the acting and the scary sad moody music played...

the episode was "the boy who predicted earthquakes" and the boy played by ron howard's brother, clint howard...

Night Gallery can be enjoyed in very nice high definition on the NBC app, with commercials. (It is though not quite Blu ray quality, like The Twilight Zone is on Hulu).

And Night Gallery is not a made-for-TV movie, by the way. Think we’ve gotten a little off-track here... There are half-hour episodes of the show (season 3) where one segment runs shy of 20 minutes, and then there’s a filler segment that runs a fraction of that time.

The pilot for Night Gallery was shown as a TV movie.

The Joan Crawford "Night Gallery" segment was directed by Steven Spielberg; his first gig.

R109 I was just re-reading one of my favorite Hollywood-dishes-on-Hollywood books called Hollywood Babble On (by Boze Hadleigh) and Miss Crawford had complimentary things to say about Spielberg's direction:"He's new, but he knows more than he let's on...a refreshing change from the usual--directors who know less than they pretend."

The "Night Gallery" tv pilot movie was terrific but the scariest one to me was "Crowhaven Farm." SPOILER ALERT.........Hope Lange having the memory of being pressed to death by stones by Witch accusers terrified me. It was even worse when I read that a man really died by that method during the Salem Witch trials because he refused to denounce his wife as a witch. I think his name was Giles Corey.

I saw Crowhaven Farm when it first aired; I was about 5 or 6. I was also traumatized by the pressing scene -- it's the only scene I remember. Wasn't the Lange character pregnant as well, and she was dreaming of being pressed to death while giving birth? (I had an intense fear of pregnant women, thanks to the childbirth scene from You'll Like My Mother)

R111 yep I seem to recall she was pregnant.

Oh, interesting ... in my imagination I was getting You'll Like My Mother confused with Home for the Holidays. My apologies for not seeing the differences between Patty Duke and Sally Field in the early 1970s. I remember seeing these on TV, but all I really remember is a young woman who had a popular TV show, a Christmas tree, and a menacing pitchfork ... and John Boy Walton as a weird villain.

You’ll Like My Mother was a theatrical release and a wonderful one at that.

I remember one in jr high called "Picture Mommy Dead"...so maybe 1968. It was crap to me

That one is coming out—or has just come out—on blu ray, r115.

r116 Night of the Living Dead just came out that .... OMG now THAT scared the crap out of me and everyone else that got to see it at the movies.

Picture Mommy Dead was just released on DVD by Kino Lorber. It was a theatrical release, though, not a TV movie

Blu ray, R118. If there’s a DVD, I would hope no one is buying it. All our TVs are UHD, there’s no reason to buy a standard definition disc when a gorgeous HD blu ray is available. Please.

It's available on both DVD and Blu-Ray

I loved Valarie Harper in "Night Terror"

The Initiation of Sarah starring Kay Lenz was always one of my favorites. Sort of a combination of Carrie and Rosemary's Baby. Shelly Winters and Morgan Fairchild are also in it.

Does this count as horror?

This thread has been wonderful. Thanks to all of you who posted.

I got a tweet from Kino Lorber saying they're going to be release restored versions of The Screaming Woman and The Victim on DVD and Blu-Ray

Here's the link

Someone's Watching Me, directed by John Carpenter, the same year he directed Halloween.

Starring Lauren Hutton who is terrorized by a neighbour in the building opposite hers, and also Adrienne Barbeau as her lesbian friend.

Someone’s Watching Me is a good movie, but it does not feel like a John Carpenter film AT ALL. It’s so weird he directed it the same year as Halloween. It’s also weird how obscure it’s always been—though it is less so now, having been released on Blu ray.

The Victim and The Screaming Woman are great new additions to the format. You can see both of them on YouTube in blurry, horrid looking low resolution uploads.

It's not '80s, but it's connected to a late '70s film. "When a Stranger Calls Back", the sequel to "When a Stranger Calls" from 1979.

It's a very strong sequel. Carol Kane and Charles Durning return. Kane is excellent in the film (although somehow it neglects to let us know what happened to her husband children from the first film).

The first 20 minutes are really unsettling and spooky.